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| APYonhap News |
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| Yonhap News |
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Breaking the U.S. away seal, the contrast between Korea and Japan was mixed.
South Korea, ranked 23rd in the FIFA rankings, ended its two consecutive away games against top rankers with one win, one draw and no loss. Following a 2-0 victory over the 15th-ranked United States, it also scored a 2-2 draw after a close game against 13th-ranked Mexico, raising the possibility of success in the 2026 North-China World Cup finals.
When preparing for the U.S. expedition, concerns were greater than expected. The weight of the midfield fell as Hwang In-beom (Feyenoord) fell due to an injury. Jens Kastrov (Mönchengladbach) joined to revitalize the team, but the key was whether to create synergy with existing players. Oh Hyun-kyu (Henk), who will work with Son Heung-min (LA FC) and Lee Kang-in (PSG), suffered from failing to advance to the German Bundesliga just before this game. In this situation, head coach Hong Myung-bo showed his willingness to prepare for the North Korea-China World Cup finals without shaking by focusing on experiments in both the U.S. and Mexico.
The performance revealed through the two games exceeded expectations. In the match against the U.S., he led most of the game. Mauricio Pochettino led ace Christian Pulisic (AC Milan), but it was virtually erased. In the match against Mexico, he failed to take advantage of the early opportunity and even gave up the first goal, continuing the difficult trend of the game, but he showed tremendous concentration with two goals in the second half alone. In particular, the match against Mexico is more significant in that it replaced the remaining 10 players except for Kim Min-jae among the players who played against the U.S.
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| AFP Yonhap News |
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| Yonhap News |
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Japan, on the other hand, is in a state of tears. After leading most of the match against Mexico and ending up in a 0-0 draw, it was completely defeated 0-2 against the United States on the 10th. The result was two goals apart, but the main evaluation was that the gap could have widened due to a series of loss crises at the end of the second half. Japanese national team coach Hajime Moriyasu focused on the experiment of completely changing the members of the match against Mexico and the U.S., but all of them were scoreless. Japan, ranked 17th in the FIFA rankings, looked confident ahead of the upcoming away match in the U.S. Ace Takefusa Kubo (Sosiedad) should play enough to win when he meets a similar level team that aims to win the World Cup ahead of the second consecutive game"He also expressed his confidence. However, the opposite result unfolded. In the match against the United States, Takumi Minamino (AS Monaco), Daichi Kamada (Crystal Palace), and Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton) were allowed to score the first goal, but they collapsed by conceding additional goals. After the game, Japanese national team coach Hajime Moriyasu had to bow his head, saying, `We apologize for not delivering victory to fans who came all the way to the region and those who were watching in Japan at an early stage and for not scoring a goal.'
Comments from the Football Zone article, a Japanese soccer media outlet that reported the news of Moriyasu's press conference, were infested. One netizen harshly reprimanded Moriyasu for selecting Yuto Nagatomo (FC Tokyo), who is in his 40s ahead of the friendly match, saying, `It is just a waste to select a player who has no possibility of using the main team.' Other netizens also said 'It was not strange to lose more points. It was a landslide victory for the U.S. and 'It is not easy to win the World Cup again, ' and 'decision is a problem again'.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
